America's growing surveillance state

Thursday, 14 May 2009 23:36

DHS has become an albatross of surveillance choking American necks. Internal documents such as the lexicon and the rightwing extremism report, combined with previous examples of DHS helping state fusion centres watch over antiwar protesters under the Bush administration, show that DHS is not only actively undermining American civil liberties but is also politicised by whichever party is running the country. This isn't a left-right issue, it's an American issue.

Liberals scoffed when news broke about the rightwing extremism report, noting that conservatives have no problem with a domestic intelligence system when it concentrates on antiwar activists and fringe fanatics associated with animal rights and the environment. But this ignores a larger point: the US is becoming a surveillance state, and it's important for all Americans to insist that DHS put strict regulations on how it watches over American citizens.